Q & A

Recall Marnie Glickman Dixie School Board Member 2019

Why the recall? Marnie Glickman has failed to act in the best interest of the Dixie School District as an elected fiduciary and trustee.

She has proven herself unqualified to serve our community.

She lacks effective and suitable skills that fits our district’s passion to prioritize the education of our children. This should be the common denominator in any formula or discussion.

Who is initiating this recall? With overwhelming support from members of the community, a group of residents who are frustrated by the divisiveness she has created.

Are the people leading the recall part of We Are Dixie? This issue is completely separate from any aspect of We Are Dixie.

How will the recall be funded? A group of private citizens will raise money to support the initiative and donate the funds to the school to pay for the election. No school district dollars will be used.

Is this about the name change? The name change initiative spearheaded by Ms. Glickman only solidified that she has failed to represent her constituents that she was elected to serve. From the beginning of her tenure as trustee, Ms. Glickman made decisions based on her own behalf without partnering with her fellow trustees or considering the impact on the entire school district and its students. See below for examples:

FAILED TO EXERCISE FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY

On September 1, 2015, the state of California enacted bill SB 415, which effectively requires regional entities, including city and town councils, to hold their elections on even-numbered years by 2022:

The idea is to increase public participation by having local and state elections on the same ballot. The majority of school districts in Marin agreed.

In 2017, the Dixie School district trustees went back and forth on this matter. While it would be difficult to extend their own term, the majority of board members felt it would be fiscally irresponsible not to move in this direction. They were concerned about the shortfalls in the state budget and the continued unhealthy decline of district reserves. The reserves were 4.98% vs. the board goal of 10%.

The separate election would have cost the district a maximum of $140,000 that would come out of the district’s budget. The board voted to move to an even year cycle 4-1, Glickman was the sole dissenter. Her rationale was “Democracy costs money.”

Most recently, Ms. Glickman filed a potential Brown Act Violation against her fellow trustees. The cost to defend this along with costs to provide legal representation regarding any name change discussion is at $50k and continues to climb weekly. These dollars will not be recovered.

FAILED TO ACT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF HER CONSTITUENTS

Ms. Glickman has intentionally isolated herself and failed to prove herself capable of working with fellow board members to build consensus and speak as one voice. The name change issue has exacerbated her lone wolf behavior. This is evident by the following:

Ms. Glickman lied to her constituents when running for office. When asked about a name change before the election, Ms. Glickman said the following, “I support the public discussion on the issue. Discussion must be respectful and help the community grow. What’s most important is helping our children learn.”

Public discussion with her greater constituents were not part of her plan as evident by the way she brought the name change issue forward to the community.

On August 31, 2018, Ms. Glickman went on the local ABC news as a representative of the Dixie School Board saying the name Dixie was synonymous with the Confederacy. This was the first time Ms. Glickman’s constituents and fellow trustees were aware of her campaign to change the name of the district.

In the months prior to this, Ms. Glickman reached out to other social justice activists outside the district to support her view before speaking to the people in her district.

Ms. Glickman has been disrespectful throughout the entire process of the potential name change

She shows disrespect to her fellow board members:

She continues to speak down to them at public board meetings.

Ms. Glickman “leaked” emails sent to the board to community members working for the name change cause, which is against normal operating procedure.

When fellow board members expressed their concern over threatening emails they received, Ms. Glickman showed no empathy or compassion. Although Ms. Glickman had recently herself received a threatening note, she dismissed her fellow board members’ concerns.

Since the time of the first news clip, Ms. Glickman has repeatedly reached out to the media for coverage on behalf of the name change, and has repeatedly gone “on record” without clear distinction that her personal views on this topic are separate from her role as Dixie School Board Trustee.

She partnered with others outside of our district to thrust this small community into the national spotlight and then says she is concerned about it’s safety. “I am concerned about our physical and emotional safety.” She then cites incidents of what happened at the Berkeley riots and says, “that can happen in Marin.” She implied that the people against the name change could be responsible for that sort of behavior.

In November 2018, she voted against the 4-1 decision by the school board to take the name change issue to an advisory ballot. She said, “… there is nothing to stop… and the KKK and other national interests from funding an advisory election and I am very concerned about that.” But she doesn’t seem to have any concerns about parading the national media in front of our schools with our children out front.

In summary, Ms. Glickman has made it clear that she does not have our children’s best interest at heart, nor the community that elected her to office. It’s time to remove her from her position and let the school board get back to their goal of providing the best education and learning experience for the children who attend the schools in our district.